


Behind Closed Doors

by EllanaSan



Series: Tumblr Prompts [23]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 23:10:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1282183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>original prompt : Haymitch and Effie are bickering and at each others throats more than usual (and more seriously ... nagging and yelling etc) so Katniss gets an idea to lock them together in a room until they sort it out, Peeta goes along with it even though he thinks they will kill each other instead of getting along, that is until he hears giggling and moans from behind the door XD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind Closed Doors

“Katniss! Katniss, wait!” Peeta ran after her as fast as his leg would allow him but Katniss didn’t slow down like she usually would. She was done with waiting. “Katniss, think this through, please. This isn’t a good idea.”

She was fed up – and that was a nice euphemism to say she was utterly done – with their neighbors. Peeta and she had been enjoying a calm, _relaxing_ day together when shouts and insults had started flying in through the open window. Now, that wouldn’t have been a real problem if they couldn’t _still_ hear them once the window had been closed, she could have _maybe_ even forgiven that if this ridiculous fight had not been going on for four _bloody_ endless days.

She loved Haymitch and Effie to death, she _really_ did, but it might be time for them to reconsider their living arrangements. Either they managed to get along or Effie should find another house close by. They had always fought, of course, Peeta and Katniss were used to that, expected it even, but it had taken a sour turn nowadays. Effie was constantly nagging Haymitch to stop or at least decrease his drinking and Haymitch was livid over some changes she had made in the house and kept telling to whoever wanted to listen that she was trying to transform the house into a candy box and he wasn’t about to stand for it. Unfortunately, Katniss and Peeta being their closest neighbors and their closest friends could never escape their fights and that when they weren’t outright dragged in the middle of it. Katniss was done with that. Bickering, she could take. Yelling and name calling? Not so much. Effie had come there to recover, as far as Katniss was concerned, she had recovered. Now, they all wanted to keep her in Twelve but Katniss was almost ready to build her a house with her bare hands if that meant she could cuddle with her fiancé on the couch in peace for _one hour_.

“Katniss…” Peeta tried again, as they reached the pen. Even _the geese_ didn’t quack loud enough to cover the argument between the two people throwing them bread. Well, _some_ of the bread went into the pen at least. The rest was thrown at each other’s face.

“You take Effie.” she told Peeta. “I will handle Haymitch.”

“This is stupid.” He sighed but she knew he would do as she asked. He always did.

“The study.” she reminded him. “It’s the closest.”

It was also in a state of disuse given that Effie had started to redecorate it at some point but the project had fallen short because of Haymitch’s usual uncooperativeness.

“You two, enough!” she demanded as soon as she was close enough to be heard over their yelling. Haymitch stopped mid-rant and Effie unfolded her arms, switching her glare for a delighted smile at seeing them. Katniss didn’t bother explaining, she grabbed Haymitch’s wrist and pulled him through the back door and into the house.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he grumbled, struggling a little against her grip. He didn’t want to hurt her, though, and she wasn’t leaving him a chance to escape. She lead him to the middle of the study, empty but for a desk, a chair and a moth-eaten carpet, and then turned around to find a puzzled Effie and a grinning Peeta.

“Katniss, what’s going on?” Effie asked, a little worried. “Really, this isn’t how it’s done. Where are your manners?”

“With my patience, evaporated into thin air.” she snapped, stomping to the corridor where Peeta was waiting for her. “Now, remember when I joked about locking you up in a room until you learn how to get along without shouting? Congratulations, I’m not joking anymore.”

She had barely enough time to see the consternation of Effie’s face and the anger on Haymitch’s before she slammed the door shut and turned the key. Someone, and she was betting on Haymitch, barreled against the door with their fists. Then, it stopped abruptly.

“Don’t do that you will only get hurt.” Effie’s voice chided him.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Haymitch’s voice replied.

“Oh, then, by all means, try to kick the door down but don’t ask me to hold your hand when you have to go the hospital because your shoulder is out of its socket.” Effie replied shortly. “Last time, you cried like a baby.”

“I did not.” Haymitch said petulantly.

“You were _drunk_.” she snapped.

“And if my memories are correct, so were you!” Haymitch retorted.

Peeta looked at her and sighed. “They are going to kill each other.”

“They need to sort it out.” Katniss persisted, sitting down in front of the door. “It can’t go on like this.”

“It won’t go on like this if they kill each other.” Peeta pointed out but he sat next to her.

Katniss let out a sigh of her own and got ready for a long wait.

“I wasn’t drunk! I only had two glasses.” _Effie_.

“You’re such a light-weight _a glass_ is enough to get you drunk, sweetheart!” _Haymitch_.

“ _Even_ _if_ I was drunk, what does it have to do with you plummeting down the stairs at that victory party?” _Effie_.

“I didn’t _plummet down the stairs_. I missed a step.” _Haymitch_.

“You were hoping from step to step on one leg. This was stupid, as I recall telling you more than once at the time.” _Effie_.

“It was a dare.” _Haymitch_.

“It was a _stupid_ dare.” _Effie_.

“If they’re back to victory parties, we’ll be here until next month.” Peeta let his head fall against the door.

“Well, they will get hungry eventually. I won’t let them out until they manage to talk politely to each other.” Katniss said.

“It was less stupid than _your bloody lamp_!” _Haymitch_.

“And we’re back to the lamp again.” Katniss snuggled against Peeta, perfectly aware of all the drama surrounding the lamp Haymitch had accidentally – or not, that part of the story was still open for debate – broken a month ago.

“You did that on purpose!” _Effie_.

“Don’t be ridiculous, if I had to get rid of one of these ugly things you keep putting into the house, the lamp wouldn’t be my first choice.” _Haymitch_.

“Oh, I’m ridiculous, now, am I?” _Effie_.  

“We should have made sure there was no possible weapon in the room.” Peeta was joking but his words were laced with real concern. Katniss didn’t think he should worry about that. Haymitch and Effie were old friends, and like old friends, they bickered. All they needed was just to learn out to actually _speak_ to each other without shouting.  

“Yes, you _are_ ridiculous. Slightly less than when you paraded around looking like a clown, I will give you that, but you still are ridiculous.” _Haymitch_.

“A clown? _A clown? Really_ , Haymitch? After all those years, you’re still calling me a _clown_? ” _Effie_.

There was a clang, then, and the unmistakable noise of things falling or being thrown about… Peeta and Katniss bolted to their feet.

“They have stopped yelling.” Peeta said. “They _never_ stop yelling.”

There was a violent bang against the door and then silence. Utter silence.

Peeta and Katniss looked at each other. “Do you think…?” she asked, but she couldn’t bring herself to finish her question. Haymitch would never hurt Effie, would he? And surely Effie wouldn’t hurt Haymitch either? “Should we… check?”

Peeta pressed his ear to the door just as she unlocked it. He grabbed her wrist before she could open it, eyes wide and looking a little green in the face. “You really don’t want to do that.” He stepped away from the door like it was burning him.

“What are you on about?” she frowned, putting her face closer to the door to hear what was happening inside. She got the idea pretty quickly. She could have pretended Effie’s giggles were due to a joke or something else but Haymitch’s deep raw moan… was something she never, _ever_ had wanted to hear. She nearly fell in her haste to get out of there. “What _the_ _hell_? Since when do they… They…” She made a face at the very idea. The door rattled again and Effie’s moan and breathless call for Haymitch were loud enough for them to hear.

“This is deeply, _deeply_ unsettling.” Peeta shook his head and held out his hand with pleading eyes. “Let’s go home?”

“Home is too close.” Katniss winced. “We should find another house. The other end of the District sounds good.”

They ran more than they walked out of the house and stopped near the pen where the geese were still quacking their displeasure away.

Peeta and Katniss’ eyes met and they started laughing until they were bent in two and Peeta actually fell on the ground. “We’re never going to live that down.” He gasped between two chuckles. “ _Never_.”


End file.
